MLB_Hotchkiss an improved version of the Hotchkiss Factory map which was released in May 2003.
There was a major issue with the bomb, a main objective in the map since it could be armed without
loading the explosives on it and the last part of the map was too much defense-biased...
Created in 1871, the Hotchkiss company was designed from the very start to produce weaponry. In
1939, it had extended it's market to machine guns, tank & cannon shells but also cars & military
vehicles. This map takes place around the Saint-Denis Hotchkiss Factory, near Paris, where
intensive production of several weapons had started to prepare for the german invasion.
When making this map, we decided to alter the scenario a little and use the Hotchkiss Factory for
a secret missile prototype that the French would be setting up in order to knock the german
BlitzKrieg strategy out. It all takes place when Axis invade France, and are arriving near the
Hotchkiss factory which has already been severrely bombed by their Luftwaffe. The Axis assault
squad mission is to infiltrate the Factory and retrieve a prototype of the missile before allies
destroy the few models still remaining.
Axis spawn in a building which faces the first factory storage area. Allies have locked the main
ways in but the bombs have breached entire walls open leaving a few ways to sneak in...
The first way in is through a highly placed breach in a side building. Axis need to set up a
scaffolding to get in there. The second, more simple, is the main entrance door which resquires
to steal clothes from an enemy and get in as a covert ops in disguise. Another solution is to
reach the controls of the crain overlooking the entire yard. That crain can be rotated to smash
a gate open. Then, there's a few very hard ways in using electric cables which hang across the
courtyard and, finally, a huge building side was ripped open in a last place leaving an
additional path to infiltrate. Once Axis have found a few ways in, their main objective is to
dynamite the factory main gate. This gate lies just below a blown piece of the storage roof and
wasn't annihilated by the air forces. Once destroyed, it provides a new spawn for Axis and
Allies are pushed back a little... The next part of the map takes place around an upper terrasse
which is overlooked by the factory main wall. Since the wall is made of a stout & sturdy build,
Axis have to set up some big charges to blow it up. A set of sewers also provide a back road to
reach the objective without being seen. Fortunately, Allies have an office lower down with a
special type of explosive. Only 2 of those dynamites linked to a timer will be sufficient to
breach the wall. The following screenshots show the special explosive and the place where it has
to be loaded. Once loaded, a lever enables a countdown of 2 minutes. The countdown can be
interrupted and resumed but never resets, which means that if a player interrupts it at 1 second
from the end, when it will be reactivated, the bomb will blow after 1 second!!!!
Once the wall is ripped open, Axis respawn just behind it whereas Allies are moved back to the
missile storage. A long corridor leads there with an MG-42 gun nest to cover it. Allies spawn
nearby and have a dominent position since their spawn is located higher up. In this last part,
Axis have to destroy the missile launcher in order to disable all Axis defense...